So as with most people, I think, after seeing Iron Man 3, there were so many ispirational parts to want to write about.
So as you would assume, IRON MAN 3 SPOILERS AHEAD, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED :)
The explosions reverberated through the walls and the floor beneath her; she felt her body slam into the ground as the final pieces of Tony's armour wrapped themselves safely around her.
Before the faceplate shut she caught a glimpse of Tony falling as rubble from above came crashing down around him, 'Tony?' she screamed through the closed mask.
She got up with a gasp and looked through the face plate, Jarvis' interface came to life calculating and readjusting the schematics of the building to safely navigate her out of the structure. The scan stopped at Tony and Jarvis showed her a concrete slab from the top floor cracking and beginning to fall through.
Her eyes landed on Tony as he lay on the ground looking up at the ceiling.
Without hesitation she pushed herself toward him and flung herself above him, she raised her arm shielding them as the concrete crashed into her armoured body.
He looked up at her with fear in his eyes, the face plate opened and she looked at him, 'I got you,' she breathed.
'I got you first.' He panted, 'we have to get out of here.'
He got to his feet and pushed her forward, 'get Maya and get out of here.'
Pepper stood frozen in place, 'what about you?' she cried over the crashing around them.
'I'm going to find another way.' He looked around breathlessly trying to work out where to go.
Pepper shook her head, 'no, I'm not leaving you!' She yelled over the noise.
Tony looked around at the disaster unfolding before him, more and more of the structure was collapsing, and the floor between them fell through, the helicopters were circling and he could see another missile coming, he looked at her in horror, 'stop stopping just go!' He yelled.
She finally nodded obediently and ran to Maya; she linked her arm under her and pulled her to her feet.
She dodged the falling debris and finally breathed a sigh of relief as the clear daylight came to view, she pushed herself as hard as she could and finally broke out into the open.
The force of the second explosion behind her threw her forward taking Maya with her as they crashed into the ground below as the dust flew up and covered them both.
Pepper got to her feet and looked on in horror as the dust dissipated revealing the fiery vision before her, 'oh my god, Tony!'
Before she could think, the armour began to unravel itself from her as a third explosion forced her backwards and the top floor crashed through the bottom and through the workshop.
As always she instinctively reached for her phone, her life line to Tony, always safe and close by should he try to call her, she had only ever missed his call once, and that one time she nearly lost him. Just as she retrieved it from her pocket it rang.
'Tony where are you?' She breathed.
'Right behind you baby.' His breathless voice gave away his lies.
'Tony-' she didn't know how to continue, or what to say so she resorted to their usual banter, 'don't be late for dinner, it's date night ok.' She laughed through her tears.
'I thought date night was last night.' He answered breathlessly.
Pepper let out a sob, 'you ruined it, you ate before me, remember?'
She heard a feint laugh before the roaring screech of bending metal screamed through the receiver as the mansion finally gave way, above, one of the helicopters exploded in mid-air and she watched in horror as it crashed into their house.
Pepper closed her eyes and she felt the tears rolling down her cheeks, 'Tony?'
She looked at the phone, the call had dropped out and silence met her. She ran forward but Maya held her back.
She broke free from Maya and ran to the edge, what once stood as their home, everything Tony worked for and all the memories now lay at the bottom of the sea. She looked around praying for a miracle that he would be there, holding on, alive. But her heart dropped as the raging sea below showed no mercy. No sign of Tony.
She stood in shock, afraid to breathe or move for fear of completely breaking down. Her mind ran through a million hopeful scenarios, all of them crushed by the demeaning reality with which she was faced.
She dropped to her knees unable to contain it anymore. Through raging tears she screamed for him.
Night had fallen and she hadn't moved, she refused and threatened anyone who tried to make her.
She stood at the precipice, looking out over the night sky and crashing waves below. She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to supress the tears which continued to fall. The police and fire brigade came and went, numerous paramedics tried to see her to no avail. She noticed Maya was seated in the back of an ambulance with a pained look upon her face. She cursed her.
'Where is she?'
She heard a familiar voice yelling over the chaos behind her.
'I'm a friend, I've got clearance, let me through, where is she?' He yelled again.
She didn't turn or move; her feet remained frozen in place and only stirred once his arms pulled her against him.
'Rhodey.' She breathed finally exhaling the breath she was holding.
'It's ok, Pep, it's ok.' He held onto her and rubbed her back.
She finally gave in to all the emotion she was holding and felt her knees give way, Rhodey held onto her and eased her down to the ground.
'He's gone,' Pepper cried, 'I can't believe he's gone, oh god Rhodey.'
He tried to soothe her as best as he could, unfortunately to no avail, his own tears fell freely as embers of the still burning remains continued to float through the sky.
He looked around at the rubble which once was his best friend's home, memories of college and parties flashed through his mind. He clenched his fists and pulled Pepper closer as she cried against him.
'What the hell happened?' He whispered, whether he was asking her or asking the universe was beyond him, words held no meaning. Only feelings did and anger filled his body as he shook with rage.
'He's gone, the missiles, he killed him, oh my god Rhodey, I can't, oh god.' She tried to pull away from him, she felt constricted and nauseous and all at once everything hit her. She doubled over once she finally broke free from him and she felt the waves of sickness hit her over and over.
Rhodey rubbed her back, comforting her as much as possible, 'Pepper, this is important, how did you get out, I need to know what happened.'
A shred of hope glimmered in the dark as he noticed that the latest Iron Man armour was nowhere to be seen, 'Pepper, please.'
She collected herself as much as possible and looked around, gathering her thoughts.
'When the first missile hit, the suit was assembling itself around me, I watched as he was thrown across the room, he thought of me first, he, he saved me and I got out,' she rubbed her face, 'he said he was right behind me, as soon as I was clear the suit flew back to him,' she looked up at Rhodey and noticed the small smile of hope on his face, 'you think he made it?' She dared to ask.
Rhodey pulled her into a hug, 'I think so, crazy son of a bitch.
Pepper smiled weakly. She closed her eyes and allowed the tears to escape; she fought against the ache in her heart as the fearful look on his face tormented her and the fear in his eyes when he woke from the nightmares and the sadness which met her when she chastised him.
She didn't mean any of it and she needed to tell him and hold him and make it right. He needed to know how much she loved him, 'find him.'
Rhodey nodded, 'we will, I promise.'
She held onto him with all her faith and hope and together they would find him, he was all she had, and without him she was nothing.
So I've seen the movie three times now, and I bet there'll be several more while it's at the cinema, and every time I just get even more excited.
But I was a little disappointed with the false hope that it was going to be bad ass Extremis like the comics (huge comic fan) and I was a little sad that the ending was a little flat. A little too happily ever after for my liking.
But anyway, in my own little fantasy world, I'd like to think that the end narration "I fixed Pepper, and then I thought, why stop there...I am Iron Man..." means that perhaps he did take the extremis, and that he was only able to operate on the shrapnel with the best cardiologist in the world, Dr Wu, because the Extremis would heal the damaged tissue.
Also, his line I am Iron Man makes me think back to the Extremis comic, he is in fact Iron Man now, he doesn't need the external suit and reactor because it's all within him now.
Anyway, that's just my hopes and interpretation from what I saw hahah! Wishful thinking, perhaps, but nonetheless, makes me happy!
Let me know what you thought of this piece and whether there are any other little one's you'd like me to write :)